Improved machine for making the tongues of machine knitting-needles



UNITED STATES l'PATENT OFFTCE.

WALTER AIKEN, OF FRANKLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVED MACHINE FOR MAKING THE TONGUES 0F MACHINE KNITTING-NEEDLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 70,67S, dated November12, 1867.

To all whom it ma/ z/ concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER AIKEN, of Franklin, of the county ofMerrimack, of the State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and usefulMachine for Making the Tongues of Knitting-Machine Needles; and I dohereby declare the same to be fully described in the followingspecification and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which-Figure l is a top View, Fig. 2 a front elevation, and Fig. 3 atransversesection, of it. Fig. 4 is a side View of a knitting-machine needle withits tongue. Fig. 5 is. a side View, Fig. G an under-side View, and Fig.7 a longitudinal section, of a needle-tongue as made by the machine, thesaid Figs. 5, 6, and 7 showing the tongue on a scale four times itsordinary size, and with the shank-piece, which is afterward to be brokenoff from the rest of the tongue by a workman after fixation of thetongue to a needle.

The machine in questionv performs upon a piece of wire, after itsintroduction therein, the following operations: First, it makes the bowla and the nick b of the tongue, (see Figs, 6, and 7,) and at the sametime forces back the feeder upon the wire. Next it moves the Wirebetween flattening-dies, by which it will be iiattened on its oppositesides. Next the wire is moved to the punching-dies, by which a hole, asseen at e in Fig. 5, will next be punched through the attened part ofthe said wire. Next the wire will be moved and introduced between diesfor rounding the end next to the hole, and such dies will effect suchrounding of the end. Next the wire will be moved between theseparating-dies, which will cut off the part constituting theneedle-tongue with the shank-piece d projecting from it. Finally thecarriage supporting the feeder of the wire will be retracted to itsoriginal position, and the feeder will be advanced, so as to againintroduce the wire between the dies for making the bowl and nick, thesaid bowl being shaped like that of a spoon. The nick is to enable theshank to be readily broken away from the bowl.

In the drawings, A denotes the base-plate of the machine. A rail, B,projects up from the front edge of such base-plate and supporti a blockor carriage, C, which is applied to the rail so as to be capable ofbeing slid lengthwise thereon.

The intermittent movements' of the carriage and its subsequentretraction are effected by a ca'm, D,and a spring, E, arranged in manneras represented. The cam is fixed on a shaft, F, and works againsta'friction-Wheeh-e, arranged on an arm, f, projecting from the carriage.Through the carriage a grooved bar or feeder, G, extends and slides in adirection at right angles with that in which the carriage is moved. Afriction-sprin g, g, is arranged Within .the groove h to properly holdthe Wires down against the bottom of the groove.

A spring, z', acting against a pin, 7c, extending down from the feederG, serves to advance the feeder toward the dies. The retraction of thefeeder at the proper period is effected by a broad arm, l, extended froma rocker-shaft, m, arranged on bearings n n projecting from the .frontedge of the base-plate. A helical spring, o, encompasses therocker-shaft, so as to cause the retraction of the feeder. Furthermore,there is applied to the rocker-shaft a mechanism to move it in theopposite direction at the proper times to enable the feeder to beadvanced. This mechanism consists, not only of an arm, p, extended fromone end of the rocker-shaft, but of a cam, q, and a lever, r, arrangedin manner as represented, this lever being provided withfriction-rollers s t to rest on the arm and cam. The said cam is fixedon a cross-shaft, u, arranged as shown in the drawings. This shaftengages with the camshaft F by means-of two beveled gears, o fw, andsuch shaft F is engaged with another shaft, H, by means o f a train ofspur-gears, x y z. The shaft H, in turn, engages with a cranked ordrivingl shaft, I, by means of two gears, a b', fixed to the two shafts.

On the front end of the shaft H is an eccentric, c', which extends intoan opening or slot,

vertical posts m on m m', and so as to be adjustable thereon as may berequired, the lower attening-die, c', the punch-die g', the lowerrounding-die, i', and the lower cutter, Z.

Fig. S is a vertical section of the said dies and punch. Fig. 9 is a topView of the lower dies. Fig. 10 is a bottom view of the upper dies. Fie:11 is a front elevation of all the dies and the punch. Fig. l2 is ahorizontal section of the dies for nicking the wire and making the bowl.

In front of each of the lower dies is an adjustable stop or screw, m2,which is screwed into the rail B from its front side. These stops serveto arrest the feeder or stop it at its proper distance from each pair ofdies when directly in front of such pair.

The dies for nicking the wire and punching the bowl are shown at n 010n', the dies n' and w being movable and the dies o 'v' being stationary.The dies n and w are fixed to a plunger, L', which slides horizontallythrough a box, M, and is forced forward by a cam, p', on the shaft F,and retracted by a spring, q, arranged as represented.

Another slider or plunger is shown at o". It carries a finger, s, whichis employed to force back the feeder at the proper period to enable itto present the proper length of wire to be cut off by theseparatiiig-cutters. This is done immediately after the formation ofthenick and bowl and while the wire is grasped and held by the dies formaking' such.

A spring, t', serves to retract the plunger r.

Having thus described my said machine, what I claim therein is asfollows:

1. The combination of the carriage G, the feeder G, the bowl-formin gdies 'w' fv, and the flattening'dies el" e', all provided with mechanismfor operating them, substantially as described.

2. The combination of thecarriage C, the feeder G, the nicking andbowl-forming dies a o w e', and the flattening-dies d e', all providedwith mechanism for operating them, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the carriage, the feeder, the bowl-forming dies,(or the latter and the nicking-dies,) and the punch f and punch-die g',all provided with mechanism for operating them, substantially as setforth.

4. The combination of the carriage, the feeder, the bowl-forming dies,(or the latter and the nicking-dies,) the punch and punchdies, and therounding-dies h i', all provided with mechanism for operating them.substantially as specilied.

5. The combination of the carriage, the feeder, the bowl, thepunching-dies, (or the latter and the niclring-dies,) the punch andpunch-die, the rounding=dies, and the separating-dies k i', all providedwith mechanism for operating them, substantially as explained.

WALTER AIKEN.

Witnesses:

DANIEL BARNARD, PARKER C. HANCOCK.

